


Equivalent exchange

by Miphan



Category: One Piece
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-28
Updated: 2018-06-28
Packaged: 2019-05-30 01:24:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15085958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miphan/pseuds/Miphan
Summary: Pudding is the best actress there is.





	Equivalent exchange

Whole Cake Island is a happy place. 

It's full of happy people who spend their days smiling, living under the protection of a Yonko. The buildings are made of every sweet you can imagine, from chocolate to pastas, from cupcakes to shortcakes. 

It really is a fake place, just like any stage.

There are the actors, who play the roles regardless of their genuine feelings, and the audience, who is oblivious to the political and economical disputes behind every action. 

Pudding is the best actress there is.

She smiles sweetly, lovingly at her maids as they drown her in praises and compliments. How fair her skin is today. How beautiful her hair looks. How the wedding dress fits her figure like a glove. She doesn't care about them, of course. They are all just mere tools she can dispose of any day. Toys she can torture, manipulate and break and then buy new ones. She could kill them with the gun hidden in her dresser and no one would say anything. Not if she doesn't ruin her dress in the process. 

That's the only thought that stops her from killing. It wouldn't do to stain her dress before the ceremony. 

The maids put a few last touches on her veil and leave her be. She sighs gladly and stares at her reflection. The face she sees is beautiful, flawless, that of an angel, a goddess. She is certain that her husband to-not-be will love it. Until she sheds her mask that is. 

She smiles wickedly, replaying Mama's plan in her mind. Just before the kiss. Everything has to happen then. She mustn't disappoint anyone. She is Mama's favorite actress, favorite daughter. She grabs the gun from her dresser, admiring the black surface. 

That gun represents her life. She has killed people with it before, people that made fun of her, ridiculed her, abused her. They had hurt her and she had hurt them. 

Equivalent exchange. 

The wedding hour is here. She latches onto her groom's arm tightly, smiling and waving at the crowd. Flashes of cameras are everywhere. Maybe she'll make a photo album after the murder. How hilarious! 

The moment comes. The priest grins widely, his mask is slipping. What a useless actor, she thinks. Sanji is pulling her veil aside. His eyes hold a strange calm and yet ferocious decisiveness. He wants to do right by her. What a joke! 

The veil is at last out of the way. For the sake of suspense she lets a few heartbeats pass before lifting her head. Sanji's blue eyes widen and she waits. For the scream, the disgust, the anger. Freak. Ugly. Monster. Die. The gun is already in her hand. The signal ready to be given. 

Beautiful. 

Wait.

What? 

Sanji's face is genuine. Not a mask, never a mask. He is smiling down at her. Was he always that tall? His cheeks are a wonderful shade of pink. Why does that make his eyes look even more blue than before? 

It's unfair, she thinks, as the knife slips from her hands. 

Freak. 

Monster. 

Ugly. 

Die. 

Beautiful. 

Beautiful! Beautiful! Beautiful! 

She falls on her knees, sobbing. Between her sobs she can hear Sanji showering her with concern. But she can't stop crying. Because it's the first time that word has been directed at her. 

The real her. 

Whole Cake Island is a stage. 

It's full of lies, masks and pain. All the citizens live in fear of Mama's next rampage that can take away lives in an instant. All her siblings care about each other and yet they push their feelings aside in order to stay in Mama's favor, to survive. No one will ever forget about the Lola incident. 

And now that she has messed up, no one will forget about her either. But she can't help it. Charlotte Pudding can take all the cruelness of the world and give it back tenfold. But the kindness of this world, that is now portrayed on the face of a single man, is another matter. 

She isn't sure when she makes the decision. 

To give her life trying to help him escape. 

In the end she attributes everything to this:

Equivalent exchange. 

For a kiss she takes his memories away.


End file.
